"Did IT come from the desert ?" (Amiga FPS game)

Please don't be disappointed to hear that Cinemaware couldn't present a holiday 2014 event,
the release of "It came from desert: Limited edition" for Mega Drive.
I had assumed what this hell would be going
from July 2014 (yes, the moment when Cinemaware announced that release first!),
and I had created this MOD from this summer 2014.

If you are Amiga or CD32+FDD users, you can enjoy this xmas gift from me instead.

This MOD is just unofficial port from MD version with arrangement as FPS game.
It would be much harder than MD version, which had been said that it was difficult,
however, you would have been absorbed in this FPS version when you realized it!

How to install in your hard disk:

1. Download this file and unzip it at your workbench screen.
2. Doubleclick "Did-IT-come-from-the-desert" icon or "cd-prg" icon. The game would be loaded.

If you would like to change c2p routine, doubleclick "setup" icon first.
"setup" requires diskfont.library, mathtrans.library and asl.library.

ADF version:

Of course you can also download ADF version.Download this file and unzip it.
If you are WinUAE user, simply insert ADF file then boot.
If you are CD32+FDD user, first you have to transfer to your own 2 empty diskettes. (See below.)

The Game:

This game is First Person Shooter for 1 player or 2 players.
In each level, your goal is to find an exit before your 3 lives run out.
In specific levels, you have to defeat a boss enemy or find keys & important items as briefing says.For Analogic FDD users:
To sidestep left/right, you have to use Amiga keyboard. First you must choose "KEYBOARD" at the title screen.
Hold Left-Alt key and press left/right arrow key to sidestep left/right. Press Left-Amiga key to shoot.
But this title is NOT so harder than "Hell" levels of original "Gloom" game,
so this website recommend you to use 6 button pad for Mega Drive because its direction key is really good response.It doesn't matter that you cannot sidestep. The matter is whether you can escape backward quickly or not.You can also pause/show menu by Esc key of Amiga keyboard.

Players & Weapons:

Name

Player 1 / Player 2

HP

25

Type

Player

Travel Speed

13

Interval of attacks: Min

--

Melee Damage

1

Pain state

No

Interval of attacks: Max

--

Projectile Damage

1 or 2

You live in a small village in the hot desert in Arizona. You are a son of a scientist who works at the east lab.
Now you are teens and too young to help his dad, so you usually study at school in the west town and patrol in the suburb of your village.
In 2 players mode, please think of you as twins.

Flame

Your standard weapon.
It costs 10 hits per a green/yellow ant,
or 35 hits (!) per a green anthead to kill them.
But it's enough, you are a big guy, huh?

Plasma

In later scenes, you can upgrade your gun.
This weapon is very effective against all enemies
except the queen ant's huge abdomen.

Other Items:

Health

It heals 5 points of your HP.
You should find them if you feel that the game is difficult.

Invisible

This item make you invisible from enemies' sight for a while.
It would make some scenes easier by getting this.

Thermo Glasses

It makes objects behind the wall visible for a while.
Don't overestimate this item too much because
some walls don't allow objects to be visible.

Keys

To open a specific locked door.
In the later scene, you might be able to open some doors
using one duplicate key.

Coins

You will need them to buy food, gasoline, ...

Green Tomato

If you give it to a hungry man, happiness may happen.Food is sold somewhere in the town.

...And, more and more items exist!

Scenes:

Episode 1: Desert Town ( 3 levels )

One day afternoon, you heard a terrific explosion from a suburb of your village.
As soon as you reached the suburb, you saw many giant ants,which looked like mutants or something.
Then you returned to your village as soon as possible,however,
the village had been destroyed by these ants squad.
Fortunately you could meet the docter, who was one of your dad's acquaintances.
Although he told you to go to the west town together, you went to dad's lab alone to find your dad.
Surely your dad stood alone in front of his lab,however, something was wrong.
Suddenly he changed his form to a deadly anthead and attacked you!
You defeated him somehow...but you didn't know where your dad has gone.
After that, you went to the west town, too. The doctor requested you to find some items.
He seemed to be going to examine ecology of these mutant ants and make a special weapon against the queen.
Tips:
If you feel that it's too difficult to kill an anthead, you should find an "invisible" in advance.
After you killed it, you have to enter the lab. This scene is different from Megadrive version.
In the west town, you have to hear doctor's briefing and find coins first.
You will need coins to buy food which has to be given to a guard.

Episode 2: The King's Canyon ( 3 levels )

The doctor started to examine about ants' ecology and make a special weapon.
Next morning, you noticed a huge ant which was flying in the sky.
Obviously it seems the king of these ants squad, so you thought that
you would win this battle if you could defeat him.
While you followed him and went to the west wastelands,
you saw many ants which came out from small tunnel caves.
Tip:
You have to learn when ants come out from these tunnels
point by point. For example, in the 3rd point of the 1st level,
you have to run away forwards (not backwards!)
when ants appear. Then look back quickly and shoot them!
(See the figure on the right)

Episode 3: The Gold Mine ( 4 levels )

You found an entrance of the gold mine.
The king ant seemed to run away into this labyrinth. So you entered,too.
There were not only many ants from your dead angle
but also deadly tramcars which were pushed toward you by ants !!
After many hurtful fights against the king's squad,
...finally you could track down the king ant.

Boss: The King Ant

He is the TOP of the chosen male ants who are allowed to have sex
with the queen ant. Damn him !! ( Lol )

Episode 4: The Volcano ( 4 levels )

After you defeated the king ant, you returned to the west town to meet the doctor again.
It seemed that he could finish a special weapon against the queen ant, however,
he noticed that you would need still another important item, a time bomb.
To make a time bomb, you had to find 3 items in this town.

After that, you went to the east volcano carrying a special weapon & a time bomb.
The doctor also had noticed that stronger ants had came from the east volcano.
In a volcanic zone, big locks and flames attacked you suddenly.
Many stronger yellow ants and red ants surely existed, and they also attacked of course.

You fought against not only many ants but also nature which was full of violent passion.
At last, you reached the ants' headquarters.
Many antheads guarded an entrance of this headquarters.
To your surprise, it looked like this headquarters was built by humans...
truly it looked like a human's castle itself...

It was easy to judge that the headquarters battle would be really tough.

Episode 5: The Headquarters ( 4 levels )

Inside the headquarters, there was a fearful sight.
Some antheads were studying human ecology and how to mimic human being.
Some antheads were learning human's languages.
There were scientists-like antheads who were studying in the research laboratory or the library.
There was still the computer room.
Obviously these mutant antheads was going to take the place of human being !
In other words, they took some intelligence persons by force to steal their great knowledge.
...Your prophecy fortunately came true,
you could rescue citizens (including your dad) who had been jailed.
But this battle didn't end at this point. You had brought a special weapon and a time bomb.
After you told citizens to return to the west town safely, you went further alone.
This battle would end when you defeat the root of this havoc, the queen ant !

Final boss: The Queen Ant

Her huge abdomen is too tough to destroy by any bullets.
Find her and confirm that with your own two eyes. To defeat her, read the doctor's briefing first.

For CD32 +FDD (without RAM expansion):

1px*1px resolution

2px*1px resolution

Episode 1- 2

2nd size screen, Nasty mode or Dirty mode.
(But you should change to the smallest (1st) screen if you
feel that the game becomes sluggish. For example, town.)

5th size screen, Nasty mode or Dirty mode.
(But you should change to the 3rd size if you feel
that the game becomes sluggish. For example, town.)

Episode 3

1st size screen. Nasty mode recommended.
You should kill all antheads appeared,
otherwise the game would become so sluggish !

3rd size screen, Nasty mode recommended.
You should kill all antheads appeared,
otherwise the game would become so sluggish !

Episode 4

Be careful not to let many enemies appear at the flame rotating area in the 2nd level ,
otherwise the game would almost stop ( it doesn't mean that the game crashes. so you have to enter Esc key and restart ).
You have to practice and know how to avoid appearances of many enemies at flame rotating area.
Once you can do that, there is no problem. But Nasty mode only, please.

Episode 5

The game will become sluggish if many antheads appears. That makes difficulty higher.
Nasty mode only.

You should choose "akiko_1" for c2p routine at the menu after you boot disk1.
You can also rename "sfxs2" drawer of disk 1 to "sfxs" when you try episode 4 & 5.
"sfxs2" drawer has following dummy-files which are not used in episode 4 & 5 levels:
dragon.bin, robot.bin, robodie.bin, shoot2.bin shoot3.bin
If you use "sfxs2" drawer as "sfxs" drawer, the game would become slightly faster.
To rename "sfxs2", boot disk 1 with no startup-sequence first. Then type "loadwb", press return key, and type "endcli".

How to transfer ADF to your own empty 880KB diskette:

First, you have to buy FDD (for PC's 720KB format) and CrossDOS-like program.
Then split the ADF into 2 files using binary editor-like program at your PC, and then copy file1 to your CD32's ram via 720KB formatted disk.
You also copy "Join" command to your CD32's ram. Then copy another file2 to a 720KB formatted disk.
Then execute following:Join file1 pc0:file2 as disk1.adf
Finally transfer this adf which was created in your CD32's RAM to your own empty diskette.
This website recommend you to use "DiskWiz" or "Tracktool".
Command examples:Diskwiz ram:disk1.adf df0: VERIFY
Tracktool write disk1.adf
These utilities don't require other libs: files, so they are useful for CD32+ analogic FDD users.

WinUAE or 030+ Amiga users:

Please make sure following issue if you set 1x1 bigger screen.
The game might crash while you see many transparent walls at the same time.I assume that this bug has anything to do with neither CPU nor RAM. Perhaps it's just a limit of Gloom Deluxe's program itself.
It is possible to play at 1px*1px resolution, however, you must set your screen size as following:

E1L1-2

E1L3

Episode2

Episode3

E4L1

E4L2-4

E5L1

E5L2-4

Ending Level

Max size (at most)

Full (7th)

4th

Full (7th)

5th

4th

5th

4th

Full (7th)

3rd

I have already tested all levels (completed without any cheats!) by the method described above.
I'm really sorry to cause you misunderstanding.
( I set full screen mode for screenshots of my webpages because I would like to makes a good show for their stuff. )

Other Known Bugs:

I know those situations (see this screenshots) especially when we walk about the city and the headquarters.
Even now I don't know how to fix these issues. I assume that this is one of the MapED's bugs.

Enemies:

Name

Green Ant

HP

10

Type

Baldy

Travel Speed

4

Interval of attacks: Min

8

Melee Damage

2

Pain state

Yes

Interval of attacks: Max

16

Projectile Damage

--

Name

Green Anthead

HP

35

Type

Terra

Travel Speed

2

Interval of attacks: Min

32

Melee Damage

1

Pain state

No

Interval of attacks: Max

48

Projectile Damage

3

Name

Yellow Ant

HP

10

Type

Lizard

Travel Speed

6

Interval of attacks: Min

8

Melee Damage

2

Pain state

Yes

Interval of attacks: Max

8

Projectile Damage

--

Name

Red Anthead

HP

10

Type

Phantom

Travel Speed

10

Interval of attacks: Min

8

Melee Damage

0

Pain state

Yes

Interval of attacks: Max

16

Projectile Damage

3

Name

Red Ant

HP

18

Type

Troll

Travel Speed

6

Interval of attacks: Min

8

Melee Damage

3

Pain state

Yes

Interval of attacks: Max

8

Projectile Damage

--

Boss Enemies

Name

The King Ant

HP

250

Type

Dragon

Travel Speed

12

Interval of attacks: Min

16

Melee Damage

10

Pain state

No

Interval of attacks: Max

32

Projectile Damage

3

Name

The Queen Ant

HP

???

Type

--

Travel Speed

--

Interval of attacks: Min

--

Melee Damage

--

Pain state

No

Interval of attacks: Max

--

Projectile Damage

--

Each variable about enemies as described above is the same as original Gloom.

History:

24/12/2014: This page and EAB thread published.
26/12/2014: Uploaded data version at aminet.net. (This was the first time in my life. Wow!)
27/12/2014: Updated data version ( I edited my wrong English messages in misc/script. Special thanks for "earok".)
05/01/2015: Updated many files. This update's Features:
Fixed fatal glitches when you sidestep beside the wall. ("Tsak" told me those glitches first. Thanks! )
Enhanced the town and headquarters levels. (Not "paper thin walls" anymore!)
2 Players co-op mode is now available.
ADF version has dummy files for 2 players combat mode.
Fixed Red antheads' strange animation.
Fixed Yellow ants' wrong sound.
16/04/2015: This game became a "Total Conversion" of Gloom3 (not Gloom Deluxe) to be distributed at aminet.net.
As you know Gloom3 is now PD, so I can upload ADF version to aminet.
In addition, you can get two gifts from me.
1. Savedata. So you can start from any episode you want.
2. Changed blood colors of enemies. ( Ants: light green. Antheads: red. )
08/08/2015: Big updates! Highly recommended to download this version if you are interested yet. Make sure that title logo becomes red color.

New 21 levels for 2P combat mode.
(Some combat maps contain "deadly points" which make ants born to infinity.
On the other hand, these "deadly points" are removed from Episode 1&2
because the game would be too harder for beginners.)
New sprites of Player character.(objs/player)
New status bar and fonts in the game screen.
You don't have to assign anymore.(e.g. gloom3: , desert: )
Removed some ants from flame rotating area
because previous version was too sluggish to play the game for CD32+FDD users.
Edited some sprites of objs.
objs/terra: Removed 33th-40th patterns. They were unnecessary.
objs/player2,terra2&phantom2: Improved gore scene.
objs/baldy&lizard&troll: Edited some sprites which made their fangs be seemed 3 fangs per one ant.
Some textures were changed.
txts/txtdes2,txttown1-4: Used 128 colors for NPC. Brown houses became more brown.
Previous version had wrong wall for window of the school and door of the toilet. Edited.
txts/txthq1-3: Became the same palette as txtdes2&txttown4 to avoid the crash which is caused by "256+ colors".
Bookshelves became full 64px height to avoid the crash which is caused by "many transparent walls".
You can choose c2p routine even if you enjoy ADF version.
Misc/bigfont&smallfont were removed. It was unnecessary.
Sfxs/lizhit.bin&trollhit.bin were removed. They became unnecessary.
Previous version had wrong variables for red ants. Edited.
Edited misc/gun.bin: You will see "Cheater!" word when you shoot 4th or 5th gun.

05/04/2016: Changed sprites of some NPC(s). (They become more similar to original Mega Drive version.)
Removed the sun from ep2pic. (It is because player goes to the west in the morning).
Removed some transparent walls from the 1st level of Episode 5.
(Sorry, the game crashed even if you set your screen at 1x1 the 4th size. Now it would not crash anymore at the 4th screen.)

This MOD has been created as the anniversary of Cinemaware's Megadrive version release,
and I hope that you recognize this as an unofficial "parody" or "inspired title".
Please don't sell this freeware without permission.

Don't claim about its difficulty. I am happy if you have already beat "Gothic Tombs" levels of original Gloom at least,
otherwise you might give up this game in the very early scene.

All Sound effects files, graphics files (objects' sprites, textures, title & demo screens) and maps were made by nittamituaki, in 2014.
"Gloom 3" 's original program files (gloom2) was made by Mark Sibly. This program file was edited by nittamituaki, in 2015.
In 2013, Gareth Murfin changed "Gloom 3" copyrights' state to public domain.